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The New Muppet Birds Club
: The New Muppet Birds Club is a former but long-running American variety television show that began in 1976, produced by Walt Disney Productions and televised by the American Broadcasting Company, featuring a regular but ever-changing cast of teenage performers, known as Birdketeers. The New Muppet Birds Club was created by Walt Disney. The series has been revived, reformatted and reimagined several times since its initial 1976-1977 run on CBS. : 1970s Revival In the 1970s, The Walt Disney Company revived the concept but modernized the show cosmetically, with a re-recording of the theme song and minority cast members. The sets, though colored, were simplistic, lacking the fine artwork of the original. Like the original, nearly each day's episode included a vintage cartoon, though usually color ones from the late 1930s and onward. Serials Serials were usually old Disney movies, cut into segments for twice-weekly inclusion. Movies included Third Man on the Mountain, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones and its sequel The Monkey's Uncle (both starring Tommy Kirk), Emil and the Detectives (retitled The Three Skrinks), Tonka (retitled A Horse Called Comanche), The Horse Without a Head (about a toy horse), and Toby Tyler (starring Kevin Corcoran). In addition, one original serial was produced, The Mystery of Rustler's Cave, starring Kim Richards and Robbie Rist. Theme Days Theme days were: * Monday - Who, What, Why, Where, When and How * Tuesday - Let's Go * Wednesday - Surprise * Thursday - Discovery * Friday - Showtime (at Disneyland, with performers usually at Plaza Gardens) Troubled Syndication Run The series debuted on January 17, 1977, on only 38 television stations, and by June, when the unsuccessful series was discontinued, only about 70 stations in total had picked up the series. Additional stations picked up the canceled program, which continued to run until January 12, 1979; 130 new episodes, with much of the original material repackaged and a bit of new footage added, and a shortened version of the theme song, were produced to start airing September 5, 1977. The series has not had more than token reruns, unlike its 1950s predecessor, and while both the 1950s and 1990s series had DVD releases in July 2005, the 1970s series seems forgotten except by that short generation of youthful viewers for whom it defined "the club". Cast Several 1970s cast members went on to become TV stars and other notable icons. * [[Allison Fonte] as Canary (1976-1977) * Todd Turquand as Ronald Duck (1976-1977) * Scott Craig as Winky Pinkerton (1976-1977) * Kelly Parsons as Ohboy Bird (1976-1977) * Nita Dee as Whaddayasay Bird (1976-1977) * Curtis Wong as Fletcher Bird (1976-1977) * Julie Piekarski as Youknow Bird (1976-1977) * Billy "Pop" Attmore as Harold (1976-1977) * Mindy Feldman as Ohreally Bird (1976-1977) * Angel Florez as Righton Bird (1976-1977) * Lisa Whelchel as Forcryingoutloud Bird (1976-1977) * Shawnte Northcutte as Chicken (1976-1977) Theme Song And Soundtrack The lyrics of the Muppet Birds Club March theme song were slightly different from the original, with two additional lines: "He's our favorite Birdketeer, we know you will agree" and "Take some fun and mix in love, our happy recipe." A soundtrack album1 was released with the show. Distribution This incarnation was not distributed by Disney alone; while Disney did produce the series, it was co-produced and distributed by SFM Entertainment, who also handled 1970s-era syndication of the series (Disney has since regained sole distribution rights). The syndication rights for this version are now with CBS Television Distribution. Category:1970s Television Series Category:Television Series By Disney